Planning and management of projects typically involves the collection and maintenance of information giving insight into the requirements, budget, costs, schedule and progress of the project. In order to manage a project, it is necessary to collect this and similar information at the beginning of the project and as the project proceeds, and then to present information about the project in a comprehensible way. If project information is to be comprehended and used to give insight into the progress of the project, potential delays, cost overruns and obstacles to project completion, it is not sufficient merely to present all available information relating to the project. A large project may be complex and project information may include numerous elements. Such elements may include, for example, budget, scheduling and progress information for numerous smaller elements of a project.
In order for a user of the information to comprehend the information, he or she must be able to focus on the desired information. In addition, it is highly desirable for information to be presented so that relationships between various informational elements are easily comprehended, and so that the information presented can be easily updated to reflect current and project scheduling and progress. Items of interest relating to a project include the scheduled start and completion, as well as the actual start and completion, of various elements of the project. The relationship between actual and scheduled events, for example, if the actual start of an element is early, on time or late, is of particular interest. Presentation of such information in a readily comprehensible way is of great assistance in understanding and managing elements of a project. In addition, the geographical location of various activities is frequently of great importance. Many projects, such as construction projects, are related to geographical locations where they are being conducted, and numerous projects involve coordinated activities distributed over a number of geographical locations. Activities in one location may depend on activities in another location, and a view of the scheduling and progress of a project in relation to the locations in which various activities are taking place provides important insight into the status of the overall project.
There exists, therefore, a need for systems and techniques for presenting project information in a way that is easily comprehensible to a user and easily updated, and shows associations with geographical location relating to elements and activities comprising the project.